Friday, the
Lady Hammerheads were two games away from a regional championship.
Now the rugby team
is one tournament away from a national Division II title. The Lady
Hammerheads, with members hailing from Fort Myers to Boca Raton,
trounced the competition at the USA Rugby South Finals over the
weekend at Three Oaks Community Park. The team beat the Charlotte,
N.C., Mayhem 45 to 7 Saturday, then triumphed over the Nashville/Birmingham
combined team in the finals by a score of 38 to 3. Now the team
is headed to the Division II USA Rugby National Championship June
5 and 6. The three-year-old Lady Hammerheads formed for one simple
reason: they were tired of sitting on the sidelines while their
friends, boyfriends and fiancées played on the men's team. So they
created their own. Though the Hammerheads
range in age from 20 to 40, most are in the their 30s. The other
teams sported much younger players, said Lisa Rynders, 39, of Naples,
a founding member. "It was big for us because most of us are not
young and these girls were young, college age, and we're 35, 36,
playing against youngsters," she said. "It was really neat, especially
for me at 39 to be able to play them and beat them." It doesn't
matter the age, one has to be in good mental and physical shape
to play rugby. Size doesn't matter as much as grit and endurance.
The match is played in two 40-minute, non-stop segments on a grassy
field, which rugby players call a pitch. It's a running game where
the players try to score a goal worth five points. There are other
ways to score, but that's the main one. The game is a cross
between football and soccer, with the passion and roughness of hockey
tossed in. Yet it is uniquely rugby and difficult to understand
on paper or on the sidelines. It takes getting on the pitch, getting
tossed around by the opposing team and getting a hand on the ball
to actually understand. Even then it takes time. Summer, said
the 35-year-old Barlow, is the best time to feel what rugby is all
about as the play is slower is and less competitive. It's a more
social game than the other two seasons when egos and pride are on
the line. Players can join for $105 a year, plus expenses to travel
to competitions across the state and nation. Players can join anytime
and learning on the pitch is encouraged. "Rugby to me is just the
most unique sport I've ever played," Barlow said. "I wish I'd found
it earlier in my 20s because it's such fun." Fun and aggressive,
brutal, tough, whatever the adjective is of choice. The ladies aren't
afraid to admit they take a beating and give one in return. It isn't a game
for sissies. Contact Features Editor
Kristen Smith at
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By KRISTEN SMITH, Features Editor
April 28, 2004
Photo by Lexey Swall
Raelyn Barlow, president of the
Naples Women Rugby Team, also known as the Lady Hammerheads, battles
for the ball during a line out against a Charlotte Mayhem opponent.
The Lady Hammerheads went on to beat Charlotte 45-7 on Saturday and
then topped Nashville Birmingham 38-3 on Sunday to win the USA Rugby
South Finals. The finals consisted of 12 teams from Florida, Georgia,
Tennessee and North Carolina.
Now their men are on the sidelines; the men's
team didn't make the finals this year. Instead they were well represented
by the ladies, who missed making the south finals last year by one
scoring drive. Raelyn Barlow, a founding member of the team, was
still beaming Monday afternoon from the win. "I'm all battered and
bruised with an ankle the size of a soup can and I'm still as happy
as can be," she said. After two days of rough play, the team emerged
abused and triumphant.
Photo by Lexey Swall
Winger Tracy Hay, top, stretches out before practice while her son
Colton, 21 months, occupies himself at the Pop Warner fields in
Estero last week. Hay, 26, is a former soccer player and coach and
is the newest member of the Lady Hammerheads. Hay’s husband, Bumper,
plays rugby with the Naples men’s team.
"People play for 10 years and they don't know
all the laws," said Andi Coombs, 27, a graphic artist from Naples
who's been playing for the past nine years and who explains that
in rugby one doesn't call them "rules" but rather laws. "I'm still
confused and I'm playing." That's what practices are for. It's a
time to not only make sure the ladies are in shape but to work on
techniques and the finer points of the game.
Photo by Lexey Swall
The Lady
Hammerheads and Charlotte Mayhem go head to head for possession of
the ball during the game Saturday. The Naples women’s team was founded
in June 2001.
Last Thursday the
ladies worked on scrums — tight-fit configurations to determine which
team gets the ball after minor infractions — and line outs, where
teams battle for the ball by lifting players in the air.
They worked on passing the ball, which resembles a football only fuller
and longer. In rugby, the ball can only be passed backward, not forward.
They also ran drills and scrimmaged for two hours. They practice Tuesdays
and Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Estero Mustang Pop Warner fields
on Williams Road in Estero. Though they have this week off to rest
and recuperate, they'll be back to practice for the run at the finals.
Then it's on to the next rugby season. The team has three seasons
of play, summer, a more social time of play; fall, where they compete
for the Florida title; and spring, where they compete for the regional
and national titles.
Photo by Lexey Swall
"Sorry, to the people who don’t like profanity," said
Jackie Potter, top center, before yelling various phrases to get the
team pumped up before playing on Saturday afternoon at Three Oaks
Community Park in San Carlos Park.
Photo by Lexey Swall
Nzingha Gaines, center, gets help taping up the sleeves of her jersey
from teammate Sarah Campbell on Saturday before the game.
The
coach quickly nixed that, said Kelly Hill, 40, of Fort Myers. She's
the oldest player on the team and constantly reminded of that by her
teammates. She's also one of the most experienced, playing off-and-on
since 1983. "A lot of people don't know what rugby is and then they
see it and say, "I can't do that,'" said Hill, who is self-employed.
"This is an aggressive sport and that's what so fun about it."
Though it may seem a bit vicious and only for big, tough women, that
isn't the case. Many of the Lady Hammerheads are petite, little things.
Each person has something to offer the game. Tracy Hay, 26, of Naples
joined the team eight weeks ago. She quickly became a powerhouse with
speedy legs. Once she gets the ball and starts running down the field
she's almost impossible for the opponents to catch, though she has
hit the ground in a few hard tackles. When her husband, Bumper, started
playing, the former women's varsity soccer coach at Louisiana State
University who is now a stay-at-home mom didn't want to sit out. So
she joined the Lady Hammerheads, who practice at the adjoining field
to the men's. The Hay's son, 21-month-old Colton, wanders the fields
while his parents practice. He's become a mascot of sorts for his
parent's passion. "I think it's a sport that enables all sorts of
athletes, you don't just need small, fast people, you don't just need
big, strong people, you need all sorts of people for a successful
team," she said. "It's a hard sport, but it's a fun sport." For more
information on the Lady Hammerheads, or the Hammerheads, visit the
Web site at www.naplesrubgy.com or call the hotline at 336-7332.
213-6043 Copyright 2003-2004 Naples Daily News. All rights reserved.
Published in Naples, Florida, USA.